IFA: Move over 3D, it’s time for 4K UHDTV

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After five years of trying to convince us that 3D TVs are the future, it seems TV makers are finally ready to move on — to 4K UHDTV. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Sony, Toshiba, and LG are all showing off 84-inch 4K (3840×2160) TVs. These aren’t just vaporware, either: LG’s TV is on sale now in Korea (and later this month in the US), Sony’s is due later this year, and Toshiba will follow in the new year.

LG

LG actually debuted its 4K TV back at CES in January, but it’s back at IFA with a launch date (September), a price ($22,000), a model number (84LM9600), and this time the company is actually letting people play with the set. Beyond its size and resolution, there’s plenty of connectivity down the side (HDMI and USB ports up the wazoo), passive 3D (and 2D-to-3D conversion), built-in WiFi, and a slew of other top-end features.

In general, consumers and reporters at IFA all seem to say the same thing about LG’s 84-inch TV: It only really comes into its own when you get really close — close enough that all you can see is the TV (about five feet). Remember, despite having 3840×2160 (8.2 million pixels) — four times the resolution of 1920×1080 — the pixel density is still very low (54 PPI, vs. the 200-300 PPI found on modern mobile displays). An 84-inch 4K TV only has a slightly higher pixel density than a 50-inch 1080p TV (44 PPI).

Curiously, a few people are reporting that the TV seems to have very poor horizontal viewing angles (and the LG site doesn’t even list the viewing angles, which is usually a bad sign).

Sony

Sony, never one to be out done on features, has decided that its 84-inch 4K UHDTV will debut with a built-in 10-speaker 50-watt sound system, built-in WiFi, and Sony’s Entertainment Network, which provides access to Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Skype, and other web services. The whole thing weighs a mind-blowing 176 pounds (80 kilos).

Like LG, Sony’s XBR-84X900 (Sony sure loves its memorable model numbers) supports passive 3D at 4K resolutions, and for PlayStation 3 owners there’s SimulView, which allows two gamers to play a game at 1080p without split screen (using polarized glasses).

There’s no word on pricing — but it’ll probably be at least $25,000 when it launches “some time this year.”

Toshiba

The Toshiba 84-inch 4K TV, with an iPhone next to it for scale (Credit: The Verge)

We don’t know much about Toshiba’s 84-inch 4K display, other than the fact that it’s coming some time in 2013. Judging by the photos, Toshiba’s unit is sleeker than Sony’s TV, but not quite as svelte as LG’s. There aren’t any built-in speakers — but really, if you’re going to spend $20k on a TV, does Sony really think that you won’t also have a proper cinema-grade surround sound setup?

Our best bet is assume that the 84-inch model has the same features as Toshiba’s smaller, already-launched 55-inch 4K TV. The 55ZL2 supports glasses-free 3D through lenticular lenses, which direct redirect 3D imagery to different locations (i.e. different seats on the sofa). The 55ZL2 also has the ability to play video from online sources, but most reviews suggest that Toshiba’s offering pales in comparison to Sony’s, or indeed a $99 media streamer.

Perhaps most worryingly, the 55ZL2 only accepts 4K video input through Toshiba’s proprietary “digital serial port” — and the only device that outputs to a digital serial port is Toshiba’s own professional, very expensive media servers. Hopefully the 84-inch model will accept 4K over HDMI, like the Sony and LG UHDTVs.

84 inches? How about 145?

IFA has produced two other TVs that are very interesting, both from Panasonic: a 145-inch 8K UHDTV, and a 20-inch 4K monitor. Created in collaboration with NHK, the Japanese broadcaster that originated the 8K UHDTV (Super Hi-Vision) transmission standard, the 145-inch Panasonic plasma TV is by far the largest high-resolution display in the world. There is no word on price or availability.

Perhaps the most interesting monitor on display at IFA is Panasonic’s 20-inch 4K, which clocks in at an amazing 216 PPI. All reports suggest that these could be the most beautiful desktop displays ever, but again we don’t have a price or availability. Generally, these high-res displays are targeted at specialist applications, though, like medicine — so expect them to start at $5,000.

Finally, a friendly reminder: While a 4K monitor or TV sounds like a good idea, bear in mind that there’s almost zero 4K content on the market — and short of spending a thousand bucks on a monstrous video card setup, nothing that will even come close to rendering a game at 3840×2160. There isn’t a 4K Blu-ray standard, and 4K broadcast TV transmission is still very much in its infancy.

As always, though, it’s a case of build it and he will come — so if you have $20,000 kicking around, please blaze the trail for us mere mortals who have been stuck at 1080p for a decade.

Nope, they’re pulling a Nintendo and use old GPUs in order to save money. The PS4 is going to be a custom AMD APU + Radeon HD5000 variant which means kiss PS3 compatibility goodbye.

The Xbox360 is rumoured to have an AMD GPU too, a Radeon HD 6670 variant I think.

I noticed something interesting: The three companies chose AMD for the GPUs and it’s very likely that they did that on purpose in order to make any cross-platform games easier to port onto their own respective consoles. Granted, not the same GPU model but still within the same family.

Hrm, maybe I confused ‘6-series’ with the Nvidia 6-series, when it was actually the AMD 6000 series!

Thanks for the clarification :)

noobermin

These are strangely approaching the TV walls of Fahrenheit 451. Attach it to the internet, then you have the dystopian future.

Will Mills

I had the exact same thought. I would also add attache it to the internet and the motion detection of the Kinnect and you have yourself the rooms found in the movie Gamer (Minus the human controlling aspect obviously).

I look forward to 4K displays becoming commonplace. I’ll put one of them up on each wall, just like in Fahrenheit 451.

And then I’ll burn all my books just for poetic performance.

Richard Cox

I’ll take your books instead.

some_guy_said

It’s too late. I already burned my kindle.

Maventwo

See this video where Charbax interview Paul Gray CEO of the display-analytic-company Displaysearch, see from 4:08 and forward where Paul Gray says that 4K needs much more DRAM-capability than HDTV.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmght-DQxzE
And this facts can in a few years be a solution on with stacked DRAM-memories like
Hybrid Memory Cube-consortium.http://hybridmemorycube.org/technology.html
IBM shall start to make this Hybrid Memory Cubes on behalf of Micron
during 2013.

Jeraldine Charlton

Curiously, a few people are reporting that the TV seems to have very poor horizontal viewing angles (and the LG site doesn’t even list the viewing angles.

Hehe, I’m still stuck at 720p! Seems like a good time to go 1080 though…

dthree

Hey, slow down electronics mfrs. We had 60 years of SD, and we just barely reached replacement all of those old sets with HD by this year. Can we get another decade of refinement on HD sets like lower power, lighter weight, better image quality, or maybe even flexible screens before upping the resolution AGAIN. I haven’t even finished replacing all my DVDs with Bluray and you’re going to make THAT format obsolete, too.

Maybe as of August 2012, there was “almost zero 4K content on the market” but as of November 2012, there will be an explosion. GoPro Hero 3 comes out with 4k support, and we can be sure to see plenty of other consumer cameras follow. Every teen who makes a backyard video of a backflip will have the ability to film in 4k resolution. It’s coming sooner than you might think.

“After five years of trying to convince us that 3D TVs are the future, it seems TV makers are finally ready to move on — to 4K UHDTV.”

You make out 3D is a bad thing, then go onto say that these UHDTV’s also have 3D. Did you ever consider that 3D might be the reason they are making the higher resolution sets?

Don’t dismiss things as gizmos and gadgets if it’s proven they have intergrated into our everyday lives – everyone might not have 3D TV’s now but I predict everyone of these UHDTV’s will have 3D when it’s at a consumer sales point.

صعفق

$300000000 تبيعون ولا

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